What happened today in history
August
What happened on August 7
On August 7 history recorded 53 notable events. 160 people who left a mark were born on this day, and 98 died. Here is the full almanac.
- 53events
- 160births
- 98deaths
- 21observances
Highlights
Highlights
1461Ming Chinese general Cao Qin staged a failed coup against the Tianshun Emperor.
The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of China ruled by the Han people, the majority ethnic grou
1744Prussia declared its intervention in the War of the Austrian Succession on behalf of Charles VII, beginning the Second Silesian War.
Prussia was a German state centred on the North European Plain. It originated from the 1525 secularization act of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, expanding its size with the Prussian
1782The Badge of Military Merit (pictured), the precursor to the U.S. Purple Heart, was established as a military decoration of the Continental Army.
The Badge of Military Merit was an award for non-commissioned officers and soldiers of the Continental Army. It is considered America's first military decoration, and the second oldest in the world. Non commissioned officers and soldiers of the Continental Arm
August 7
On this day
V century
- 461
461Roman Emperor Majorian is beheaded near the river Iria in north-west Italy following his arrest and deposition by the magister militum Ricimer.
VII century
VIII century
X century
XV century
XVII century
XVIII century
- 1714
1714The Battle of Gangut: The first important victory of the Russian Navy. - 1743
1743The Treaty of Åbo ends the 1741–1743 Russo-Swedish War. - 1782
1782George Washington orders the creation of the Badge of Military Merit to honor soldiers wounded in battle. It is later renamed to the more poetic Purple Heart. - 1786
1786The first federal Indian Reservation is created by the United States. - 1789
1789The United States Department of War is established. - 1791
1791American troops destroy the Miami town of Kenapacomaqua near the site of present-day Logansport, Indiana in the Northwest Indian War. - 1794
1794U.S. President George Washington invokes the Militia Acts of 1792 to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania.
XIX century
- 1819
1819Simón Bolívar triumphs over Spain in the Battle of Boyacá. - 1858
1858The first Australian rules football match is played between Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College. - 1890
1890Anna Månsdotter, found guilty of the 1889 Yngsjö murder, becomes the last woman to be executed in Sweden.[better source needed]
XX century
- 1909
1909Alice Huyler Ramsey and three friends become the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip, taking 59 days to travel from New York, New York to San Francisco, California. - 1926
1926The first British Grand Prix was held at Brooklands. - 1927
1927The Peace Bridge opens between Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, New York. - 1930
1930The last confirmed lynching of black people in the Northern United States occurs in Marion, Indiana; two men, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, are murdered. - 1933
1933The Kingdom of Iraq slaughters over 3,000 Assyrians in the village of Simele. This date is recognized as Martyrs Day or National Day of Mourning by the Assyrian community in memory of the Simele massacre. - 1942
1942World War II: The Battle of Guadalcanal begins as the United States Marines initiate the first American offensive of the war with landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands. - 1944
1944IBM dedicates the first program-controlled calculator, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (known best as the Harvard Mark I). - 1946
1946The government of the Soviet Union presented a note to its Turkish counterparts which refuted the latter's sovereignty over the Turkish Straits, thus beginning the Turkish Straits crisis. - 1947
1947Thor Heyerdahl's balsa wood raft, the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands after a 101-day, 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi) journey across the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to prove that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America. - 1947
1947The Bombay Municipal Corporation formally takes over the Bombay Electric Supply and Transport (BEST). - 1959
1959Explorer program: Explorer 6 launches from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida. - 1960
1960Ivory Coast becomes independent from France. - 1962
1962Canadian-born American pharmacologist Frances Oldham Kelsey is awarded the U.S. President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service for her refusal to authorize thalidomide. - 1964
1964Vietnam War: The U.S. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson broad war powers to deal with North Vietnamese attacks on American forces. - 1969
1969Richard Nixon appoints Luis R. Bruce, a Mohawk-Oglala Sioux and co-founder of the National Congress of American Indians, as the new commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. - 1970
1970California judge Harold Haley is taken hostage in his courtroom and killed during an effort to free George Jackson from police custody. - 1974
1974Philippe Petit performs a high wire act between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center 1,368 feet (417 m) in the air. - 1976
1976Viking program: Viking 2 enters orbit around Mars. - 1978
1978U.S. President Jimmy Carter declares a federal emergency at Love Canal due to toxic waste that had been disposed of negligently. - 1981
1981The Washington Star ceases all operations after 128 years of publication. - 1985
1985Takao Doi, Mamoru Mohri and Chiaki Mukai are chosen to be Japan's first astronauts. - 1987
1987Cold War: Lynne Cox becomes the first person to swim from the United States to the Soviet Union, crossing the Bering Strait from Little Diomede Island in Alaska to Big Diomede in the Soviet Union. - 1989
1989U.S. Congressman Mickey Leland (D-TX) and 15 others die in a plane crash in Ethiopia. - 1989
1989The National Cold Fusion Institute opened in Salt Lake City. - 1990
1990First American soldiers arrive in Saudi Arabia as part of the Gulf War. - 1993
1993Ada Deer, a Menominee activist, is sworn in as the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. - 1995
1995The Chilean government declares state of emergency in the southern half of the country in response to an event of intense, cold, wind, rain and snowfall known as the White Earthquake. - 1997
1997Space Shuttle Program: The Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-85 from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. - 1997
1997Fine Air Flight 101 crashes after takeoff from Miami International Airport, killing five people. - 1998
1998Bombings at United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya kill approximately 212 people. - 1999
1999The Chechnya-based Islamic International Brigade invades neighboring Dagestan.
XXI century
- 2007
2007At AT&T Park, Barry Bonds hits his 756th career home run to surpass Hank Aaron's 33-year-old record. - 2008
2008The start of the Russo-Georgian War over the territory of South Ossetia. - 2020
2020Air India Express Flight 1344 overshoots the runway at Calicut International Airport in the Malappuram district of Kerala, India, and crashes, killing 21 of the 190 people on board. - 2026
2026Debsirin Nonthaburi school shooting
Best known
Born on August 7
Best known
Died on August 7
461Majorian
Western Roman emperor from 457 to 461
707AD 707
Calendar year
1028Alfonso V of León
King of León from 999 to 1028
1106Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 to 1105
1385Joan of Kent
Princess of Wales (c. 1328–1385)
1485Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany
15th-century Scottish prince
Holidays and observances
- Assyrian Martyrs Day (Assyrian community)
- Battle of Boyacá Day (Colombia)
- Christian feast day: Afra
- Christian feast day: Albert of Trapani
- Christian feast day: Cajetan of Thienna
- Christian feast day: Carpophorus and companions
- Christian feast day: Dometius of Persia
- Christian feast day: Donatus of Arezzo
- Christian feast day: Donatus of Besançon
- Christian feast day: Donatus of Muenstereifel
- Christian feast day: Blessed Edward Bamber, John Woodcock and Thomas Whittaker
- Christian feast day: Felicissimus and Agapitus
- Christian feast day: John Mason Neale (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Christian feast day: Nantovinus
Frequently asked questions
What happened on August 7?
53 documented historical events happened on August 7, from antiquity to the present day. The best known is this: Ming Chinese general Cao Qin staged a failed coup against the Tianshun Emperor. On the same day, in another year: Prussia declared its intervention in the War of the Austrian Succession on behalf of Charles VII, beginning the Second Silesian War. On Almanaccolo every event is listed in chronological order, grouped by century, and links to the Wikipedia article it comes from, so you can always read further or check the source. Alongside the events you find who was born and who died on this date, and which observances are celebrated around the world.
Who was born on August 7?
160 people with a Wikipedia article were born on August 7, including Abebe Bikila, Eddie Firmani, Elinor Ostrom. The list spans every era and every field — art, science, politics, sport, entertainment — ordered by year of birth, from the earliest to the most recent. The six featured people are those most has been written about: the ordering uses the length of their Wikipedia article as an indicator of prominence. For each one you find their occupation, year of birth and a link to the full biography.
Who died on August 7?
98 people with a Wikipedia article died on August 7, including Majorian, AD 707, Alfonso V of León. The list is in chronological order by year of death and spans all of documented history, from antiquity to the present day. For each person you find their occupation, the year and a link to the Wikipedia biography, where the full story and its sources can be read.
What is celebrated on August 7?
21 observances are celebrated on August 7 around the world: Assyrian Martyrs Day (Assyrian community), Battle of Boyacá Day (Colombia), Christian feast day: Afra, Christian feast day: Albert of Trapani, Christian feast day: Cajetan of Thienna, Christian feast day: Carpophorus and companions. The list gathers national holidays, international days and religious or civil observances falling on this date in different countries, as recorded on Wikipedia. Some are fixed and recur on the same day every year; others depend on the local calendar. Each links to the article explaining its origin and meaning.
Keep exploring
Free app
Every day’s history, in your pocket
Almanaccolo greets you each morning with the almanac of the day, sunrise and sunset times and your saved events.
- Today’s almanac, every morning
- Save the events that strike you
- Sunrise, sunset and weather for your city
- Free, no account required
Source: Wikipedia · Calendar